he may have been a major player in the
pages of Marvel Comics for over half a
century it was only recently the Captain
America became the poster boy for the
Marvel Cinematic Universe the
quintessential hero it's almost
impossible to imagine what kind of fight
would force Steve to turn against his
fellow Avengers but you might be
surprised to find out the comic-book
history of the squeaky-clean
star-spangled Boy Scout is as dark as
they come and if fans of comic book
movies think their superhero
blockbusters are getting a little too
dark violent or serious they better hope
these famous moments from Captain
America's history are never adapted but
they're still stories every fan should
know so we've made them the focus of our
latest docu series the shockingly dark
history of Captain America the original
Captain America looking back now it
makes perfect sense for cap to have made
his debut in a solo comic punching out
Adolf Hitler on the front cover for
remember the first comic was released in
1941 a full year before the United
States even entered World War two so to
a large part of the American public who
weren't looking to go to war with
Germany the star-spangled hero made his
debut knocking a foreign head of state
unconscious the move proved
controversial since the world didn't
know just what Hitler's Third Reich was
up to but it didn't stop timely comics
the original publishers of Captain
America since the comics that followed
were huge successes showing cap knocking
out Nazis of all shapes and sizes the
stories inside the comics were a bit
different but remember Steve Rogers and
his sidekick Bucky Barnes were American
soldiers first
so while DC's Batman stopped at snapping
criminals necks cap and Bucky were
wiping out Nazi soldiers one grenade at
a time it was war sure but that didn't
stop Marvel from rewriting history years
later to keep caps killing to a minimum
Captain America goes to hell things got
weird with Captain America almost
immediately once the war came to an end
the writers had to find a new purpose
for cap and had serious trouble doing it
after just 70 issues cap and his famous
enemy Red Skull had fought in so many
strange places there was just one left
to go hell descending into the
underworld in Captain America's Weird
Tales and forced to kill Red Skull or
remain there for good
cap came through unsure if it was all a
dream or completely real not surprising
it was the final issue that Steve Rogers
would appear in before joining plenty of
his fellow superheroes on the Shelf as
an Avenger Captain America commie
Smasher it wasn't long before a new
political crisis seemed perfect for
Captain America the Red Menace also
known as communism spreading around the
globe the paranoia of the 1950's is
usually remembered as a mistake and
Captain America shows why returning as
quote Captain America commie Smasher
there was no actual threat or enemy for
cap to fight so weird Soviet monsters or
Southeast Asian villains were created in
the hopes they could drum up the same
patriotic excitement as a decade before
they didn't and the obvious racism and
bigotry in cap and Bucky battling people
based on their politics or ethnicity
seemed to prove that his time had passed
or a new mission was needed at the very
least Captain America the murderer we
know what you're thinking if Steve
Rogers was frozen in the 1940s how could
he have been smashing commies a decade
later that's a question that Stan Lee
ignored completely even though he wrote
the stories in question in 1964 Lee
locked caps origin in for good having
been frozen and thought out by The
Avengers years later it was here that
Steve Rogers super soldier procedure was
completely fleshed out with Lee
confirming one detail that seems pretty
important in hindsight that German spy
who murdered the brilliant scientist
behind Steve's Super Soldier Serum Steve
killed him almost immediately brutally
beating him and throwing him into
running machinery but don't worry things
are about to get even stranger for cap
fans
Captain America versus Captain America
it wasn't until the 1970s that Marvel
finally explained the plot hole of cap
operating in the 1950s but instead of
wiping them out of continuity they took
an even crazier path the cap of the
1950's was actually an impostor having
undergone plastic surgery to look the
part and injecting himself and his
sidekick with a reverse engineered serum
that was slowly driving them both insane
not weird enough
the imposter now the villain known as
the grande director hatched a plan that
saw him pose as Steve Rogers leading a
wave of neo-nazis in Harlem splattering
a swastika across his famous shield
daredevil eventually helped save the day
but things for the hero were only going
to get weirder and darker Captain
America quits as the Watergate scandal
in Richard Nixon's resignation were
going on in real life it only made sense
for Captain America to reflect the loss
of faith in government with some
comic-book Flair of course in the comics
cap fought a secret Empire conspiracy of
his own eventually catching its leader
to realize well it was basically Richard
Nixon not dark enough okay the implied
president shot himself to death
in the next panel as disillusioned as
millions of Americans cap turned in his
uniform for good well for a few weeks at
least
Captain America quits again the civil
war story wasn't the first time the cap
was asked to become an official
operative of the government and the
first time his choice was simple
deciding he represented the American
people not the military or government
Steve Rogers resigned with the
authorities turning to an unlikely
replacement John Walker previously known
as the super Patriot a former enemy of
Cavs more aggressive more racially
intolerant and less heroic Walker even
picked one of his immigrant hating
sidekicks as his new Bucky but he
eventually proved he really wasn't cut
out for such a heroic role when he beat
a super villain to death with his bare
hands I'm sure if he's still made
weapons stark would be neck-deep hold on
how is just now about me
I'm sorry isn't everything Civil War and
the death of Captain America
the civil war between calf and Iron Man
playing out on film is a bit different
than in the comics when Steve and Tony
Stark were split on a major political
issue where Tony figured every
superhuman would give up their privacy
Steve saw it as the government
overstepping their rights the bloody
battle that followed answered the
question of who would win the cap ended
up surrendering anyway he even faced his
charges and sentence willingly but never
got to serve them receiving a stomach
full of bullets on the steps of the
courthouse it's as good and dark a death
as any superhero could hope for but just
like the others it didn't last long so
what do you think should any of these
dark chapters in Captain America's
history be brought to the big screen or
are they better left forgotten are there
any dark stories of your favorite
superheroes that have these ones beat
let us know in the comments and remember
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